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Connecticut Flower & Garden Show 2010 | CTFlowerShow.com

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	Room # 13	Room # 14	Room # 14	Room # 14
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
11:00 AM	Mar Jennings: Life on Mar's a Four Season Garden	Mar Jennings: Life on Mar's a Four Season Garden	Pamela Weil - Getting Ready for Spring	Rosemary Harris - Digging Up Dirt

12:30 PM	Kathleen Nelson - Invasive Plants: CT Gardeners Perspective	Bob Buettner - Floral Arranging	Coleen Plimpton - The Bins & Outs of Composting	Lorraine Ballato - Successful Self Watering Containers

2:00 PM	Dawn Pettinelli - Garden Ornaments	Pamela Weil - Getting Ready for Spring	Todd Hanson - Bonsai Trees	Bill Duessing - Green Up Your Yard with Organic Land Care

3:30 PM	Mar Jennings: Life on Mar's a Four Season Garden	Mar Jennings: Life on Mar's a Four Season Garden	Steve Silk - Crazy Mixed Up Borders	XXXXXXXX

5:00 PM	Rob Townsend - Pond Ecology	Rob Dietter - Watergardening Basics	Judy Gasparino - Cracking the Code of Seed Germination	XXXXXXX
Room # 15
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
11:00 AM	XXXXXXXX	Rich Pomerantz - Specialty Gardens	Pamm Cooper - Turf	Matt Opel - Succulents for Windowsills

12:30 PM	XXXXXXXX	Colleen Plimpton - The Bins & Outs of Composting	Rob Townsend - Watergardening	Dawn Pettenilli - Organic Vegetable Gardening

2:00 PM	XXXXXXXX	Rich Pomerantz - The People & Pride Behind the Produce - A Journey Through Contemporary Small Farms	Denise Ciastko - Native New England Seaside Gardens	Joe Cannavo - How to Lower Your Electric Bill; How Deregulation gives you a Choice to Save Money & the Environment

3:30 PM	XXXXXXXX	Peter Piccone - Enchancing Your Habitat for Songbirds & Butterflies	Michael Corcoran - Birdscaping: Native Plants for Our Native Birds	Anita DaFonte - Vegetable Gardens

5:00 PM	XXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXX	Anita Dafonte - Vegetable Gardens	XXXXXXXXXX
Room # 17
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
11:00 AM	XXXXXXXX	Rosemary Harris - Digging Up Dirt	Bob Buettner - Floral Arranging	Denise Ciastko - Native New England Seaside Gardens

12:30 PM	XXXXXXXX	Regina Neal - Designing the Social Spaces in our Garden	Joe Cannavo - How to Lower Your Electric Bill; How Deregulation gives you a Choice to Save Money & the Environment	Bob Buettner - Floral Arranging

2:00 PM	XXXXXXXX	Lorraine Ballato - Successful Self Watering Containers	Bob Buettner - Floral Arranging	Rob Townsend - Harvesting Rainwater

3:30 PM	XXXXXXXX	Matt Opel - Propogating Succulent Plants	Rich Pamer - Live on the Rooftop	XXXXXXXX

Started in Business in 1964 and have owned Paul Buettner Florist since 1973. On the Board of Directors Conn,. Florist Assoc. Past President of The Greater Hartford Florist Co -op Instructor of Floral Design at Manchester Community College Instructor Floral Design East Hartford Adult Ed Avid SCUBA diver Long distance bicycle rider in numerous Charity events The longest being 400 miles from Montreal Canada to Portland Maine

President of Frogmen Volunteers, a group very active at The Hole In The Wall Camp.

Pamela Weil started Connecticut Gardener in 1995. Currently, it has 2000 subscribers in five states and keeps her busier than she ever could have imagined!

She is a Master Gardener and served as the President of the Connecticut Master Gardener Association from 1996-1998.

In addition to publishing Connecticut Gardener, Pamela enjoys writing and lecturing about gardening. She has taught the herbaceous ornamentals class to state master gardeners. She also lectures at garden clubs in Connecticut and New York on a variety of topics.

She is a past co-chair of the Westport Tree Board and was a member of the Westport Conservation Commission for 7 years.

Currently she serves as President of the board of directors of the Experiment Station Associates, a group formed to promote the work of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

Rob Dietter Jr.
Dietter’s Water Gardens
Rob Dietter received his BS Degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986 and has been building and maintaining water gardens for more than 25 years in Connecticut and California. Rob has received international awards for his work with invasive aquatic plants and lectures extensively on many water garden subjects.

Dietter’s Water Gardens is presently one of the largest aquatic nurseries in the country and home to Comets to Koi. Comets to Koi is also one of the largest ornamental fish dealers in the United States.

Joe Cannavo is an Energy Consultant and the owner of a Pollution Prevention company. Joe has been a long time participant of the Hartford Flower and Garden Show and will key note a seminar on "How to lower your electric bill, How deregulation now gives you a choice to save money and the environment".

This seminar will help you understand the process of switching electrical suppliers and how it affects you the consumer. This is a free seminar and all are encouraged to attend.
Thank you!
Be Sure to Bring Your Electric Bill

MAR JENNINGS
Mar Jennings has appeared as a lifestyle expert since 2005 in the nationally-syndicated television show Mar Jennings Home & Garden®, launched his highly regarded website marjennings.com later the same year, joined Meredith Corporation’s Better TV in 2008, and the Fine Living Network in 2009 and recently became a contributor to CNN and NBC’s The Today Show. An award-winning writer and author who combines his lifestyle expertise, gardening and entertaining, Mar Jennings’ distinctive signature style has garnered him praise and recognition as a definitive source on home, gardening and lifestyle and as a resourceful and creative entrepreneur.

As a modern day renaissance man, Jennings’ perspective on lifestyle is as much about form and function as it is about individual distinction. Based in Westport, Connecticut, Mar Jennings is also President and CCO (Chief Creative Officer) of a multimedia and design company, S&J Multimedia LLC. Mar Jennings’ brand of lifestyle and hosting combines an infectious energy and passion for conveying information in ways that are fun and inspirational to all, making Mar one of the most welcoming and friendliest personalities you ever want to meet or work with. His career combines television, radio, print media and the internet as mediums for his attainable casual luxury lifestyle.

Mar Jennings, a gold medal-winning figure skater who turned to banking as an executive; he became a Senior Vice President in less than 14 years, and at that time Mar discovered his true passion to use his love of gardening, decorating and entertaining to be a lifestyle expert, author and television personality. Mar’s national media appearances demonstrate a variety of home and garden projects that simplify the art of casual luxury, as well as hosting thousands at his Westport, Connecticut home during home and garden tours. "Having a beautiful home, garden and life can mean different things to different people. For me, it’s an attainable goal; it’s a desire for simple elegance,” says Mar. “By combining my great style tips and your local resources you too can achieve casual luxury—you just need to have a MARvelous touch!"

Off camera, Mar also specializes in publishing, radio, print media, television production, product licensing, motivational speeches, home and garden lectures as well as design consultations and executions.

Mar offers the best home, garden and lifestyle information to all who have a desire to improve their everyday home, garden and life. Mar Jennings informs and inspires viewers with simple yet clever tips and complete projects that make life and family easy and fun—from gardening to decorating, from entertaining to fashion. By showcasing unique emerging trends while providing a bounty of local resources, Mar Jennings guides you step by step on how to translate casual luxury into your own home and life.

Today, Mar's passion, versatility and vitality is an infectious combination that awakens all your senses in the way he makes all his projects functional, beautiful and attainable. Mar's distinctive casual luxury approach doesn't sacrifice style or taste, and with Mar by your side you will learn, have fun, and want to pass it on.

In 2007, Mar released his first book, Life on Mar’s: A Four Season Garden to outstanding reviews and quickly become a best seller winning the award of Best of Gold Coast in 2008.

For more information about Mar log onto his fabulous web site; marjennings.com

Colleen Plimpton
Trained at the New York Botanical Garden, Colleen Plimpton has tended her sloping acre in Bethel for 18 years. She writes the weekly gardening column for the Danbury News-Times and is also a garden coach, lecturer and educator. Her written work has appeared in GreenPrints, People, Places and Plants, Fine Gardening, and other publications. Her first book, Mentors in the Garden of Life is due out this winter. Colleen looks upon each day as a challenge and an opportunity to learn more about the wonderful world of nature.

Visit her blog at www.colleenplimpton.blogspot.com and her website at www.colleenplimpton.com

Lorraine
After leaving corporate America, Lorraine turned her passion for gardening into a second career as a free-lance garden writer and communicator. She wrote a regular gardening column for over five years for Housatonic Publications, reaching over 15,000 homes in northwest Connecticut. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including Edible Nutmeg, People, Places, and Plants magazine, Connecticut Gardener, and other gardening publications. She now has a book out on how to convert your favorite container to a self waterer: Successful Self-Watering Containers which is also covered on her website: www.successfulselfwateringcontainers.com

An Advanced Master Gardener, Lorraine teaches classes and speaks to civic groups, garden clubs, and other organizations on subjects as diverse as Using Tropicals in Your Garden, Safe Solutions to Home Gardens and Landscapes, Foolproof Hydrangeas, and Organic Lawn Care.

Michael Corcoran
Michael Corcoran is an avid birder, with a particular passion for migratory songbirds. Over the past 20years, he has participated in numerous citizen-based bird population studies. A Connecticut Audubon Society volunteer since 1994, Michael has helped maintain a migratory bird banding station at CAS’s Birdcraft Sanctuary in Fairfield, CT. Birdcraft, established in 1914, is the oldest privately owned bird sanctuary in the country and one of the earliest examples of “Birdscaping”.

Michael has taken the knowledge of bird behavior gained as a bird bander, and his experience in the field, and applied it to his own 3-acres in South Glastonbury. With the use of native plants, he has provided safe haven for breeding birds and created a migratory “stop-over” for birds during their season movements. To date, he boasts 124 bird species on his 10year “yard-list”.

Speaking locally, and leading trips a field, Michael is an advocate for bird conservation, promoting bird appreciation not only for their intrinsic beauty but, as a valuable natural resource.

Bill Duesing
For over 35 years, organic farmer, author and environmental artist Bill Duesing has been working to promote organic agriculture and greater local food sufficiency in Connecticut and the Northeast through lectures, writings, media and community work. He is currently the executive director of CT NOFA, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, and president of the NOFA Interstate Council.
He is author of Living on the Earth: Eclectic Essays for a Sustainable and Joyful Future. Bill was the founding president of CT NOFA and founding chair of the New Haven Ecology Project and its Common Ground High School, located on a farm in New Haven. He is a board member and past president of the Connecticut Farmland Trust, spent several decades gardening with elementary and high school students in New Haven and Bridgeport and for ten years provided a weekly environmental essay on public radio from Fairfield, CT.
As a member of Pulsa, he created large scale environmental art in museums and public spaces in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Halifax between 1967 and 1972.

Denise Ciastko
In 1994 Denise Ciastko originally formed CT’s first solely native plant nursery the Natural Attraction Project, Inc, to help preserve Connecticut’s Natural Heritage.

Today, Pan’s Acres Nursery LLC, continues to bring indigenous species to the front, germinating local seeds that are not readily available in today's native plant market. One of Denise’s recent native seaside restorations is located at the mouth of the CT River and Long Island Sound.

This area once overgrown with invasive species now helps provide a natural pristine habitat for migratory birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and a wealth of wildlife that could not survive with out a strong healthy habitat.

Kathleen Nelson
Kathleen Nelson is the owner of Kathleen Nelson Perennials, a small nursery specializing in low-maintenance and native perennials. (www.kathleen-nelson.com). She is chairperson of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee of Mad Gardeners, Inc and Field Supervisor of the Mad Gardeners' Mile-a-Minute Vine Control Project in New Milford/Bridgewater, CT (www.madgardeners.com)

How badly do you need pictures? I really don't have any of myself, but will ask somebody to snap something if necessary. Could send pictures of Mile-a-Minute vine if that would help.

Rosemary Harris
Fairfield County resident Rosemary Harris has been a bookstore manager, a video producer and a media exec. Now she's combined her two favorite pastimes - gardening and writing - to create the Dirty Business Mystery series.

Her debut novel Pushing Up Daisies has been nominated for the Agatha and the Anthony for best First Mystery Novel and was inspired by the true story of a body found in Norwich, CT.

Her second title, The Big Dirt Nap is set in Connecticut's casino county. Book three in the series, Dead Head, will be released in April 2010. She is the president of Sisters in Crime New England and a certified master gardener.

Rosemary will be distributing seed packets and raffling off a garden goody bag at each of her talks. She may be reached at www.rosemaryharris.com

Anita Dafonte
Avid Gardener and Cook Specializing in Unique Varieties of Vegetables, Anita will have slides of her own garden showing how to create a vegetable garden that’s both beautiful and productive. Anita will discuss which varieties of tomatoes and peppers to grow for certain dishes, how to build a rich organic soil, what tools you'll need, adding flowers for color and beauty, plus Anita will share her tips on how she saves her garden from wildlife foraging.

Anita works for Coast of Maine Organic Products and is a graduate of the Maine Compost School. Anita lives and gardens on three acres in Newtown, Connecticut and frequently speaks on vegetable gardening and creating simple and delicious meals from the garden.

Pamm Cooper
Pamm attended UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture Winter Turf School, which is offered for golf course professionals. I have been an assistant golf course superintendent for almost twenty years, and now work part time at a private Hartford County golf course. I also have worked for the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension Service for the past three years as a Turf Program Coordinator. I offer free lawn care seminars for homeowners at the New London's, Windham and Tolland County Extension Offices. I also monitor three fescue demonstration plots located at each of these properties. these are used to compare the color levels of these grasses at different nitrogen rates.

I also spent four years in Indiana and Illinois doing maintenance work at several parks, before returning to Connecticut and becoming involved in the golf course industry.

I am also a nature photographer and have done extensive flora and fauna monitoring in the landscape surrounding the golf course where I worked. I have kept records since 1991 of species found directly on the property or on the boundaries - especially of native plants and birds - to see how and if our maintenance practices have impacted them.

Rich Pomerantz - Rich Pomerantz Photography
Rich Pomerantz is a full time freelance photographer based in Litchfield County, Connecticut, an area rich with great gardens and many prominent gardeners and garden writers. A lifelong gardener, Rich traveled in Europe before going to college and lived in Israel for a year before attending the University of Vermont.

Rich began photographing professionally while still in high school. His images have since appeared in diverse periodicals ranging from Garden Design, Horticulture, Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening and Outdoor Photographer to Coastal Living, Traditional Home, Berkshire Living, Connecticut Home and Garden, CT Cottages and Gardens, National Geographic for Kids and Ranger Rick. His pictures have been used to illustrate Workman and Sierra Club Calendars, the cover of Frommers Travel Guides, and garden and trade books from most of the major book publishers. He counts among his clients many corporations, garden designers, landscape architects and individuals who hire him to create expressive portraits and illustrations for private and advertising use.

Rich conducts garden and flower photography classes at the NY Botanical Gardens, The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and at smaller, local venues like craft schools and nurseries. He continues to travel to photograph on assignment and on his own, both in the US and abroad.

Rich's first book, Wild Horses of the Dunes, about the wild horses of Assateague Island (also known as the Chincoteague Ponies) was published in 2004 by Running Press and is in its second printing. Rich's second book, Great Gardens of the Berkshires, was published in 2008 by Down East Books and his third book, Hudson River Valley Farms, a book about organic, sustainable and family farms in the Hudson Valley, NY was published in August 2009 by Globe Pequot Press. He is currently working on a book of portraits of pregnant women.
Rich Pomerantz
10 Church Hill Road
Washington Depot, CT 06794
(860)355-3356 rich@richpomerantz.com
www.richpomerantz.com
www.richportraits.com

Steve Silk

The Crazy, Mixed-up Border: An Eclectic Approach to Using Trees, Shrubs, Annuals, Tropicals, Edibles and Perennials This kitchen sink approach to garden making welcomes representatives from every corner of the plant kingdom. No leaf is left unturned in this search for the best and brightest of forms, foliage and flowers, which are then combined to create garden vignettes whose beauty lasts from Spring through Fall. This is a style that celebrates change and experimentation.

Steve Silk became interested in plants more than 20 years ago, during extended travels in tropical South America and Southeast Asia . Some of the tropical plants seen during his journeys, along with hundreds of other plants from all parts of the world, now grow in his ever-expanding Farmington , Connecticut garden. Steve’s gardening year begins with the sowing of more than 1,000 seedlings and ends with the planting of as many bulbs. After 15 years as an award-winning photographer and travel writer at the Hartford Courant, Steve moved in 1996 to Fine Gardening magazine, where he was Managing Editor and later spent 10 years as a Contributing Editor. He now spends most of his time writing about, photographing, and re-inventing his own back yard. His photography has garnered two Garden Writers of America awards for best portfolio.

He collaborated with Sydney Eddison on “Gardens to Go” (published by Bulfinch ) a book about container gardens. Steve and Sydney also worked together on “The Gardener’s Palette: Creating with Color in the Garden,” (published by Contemporary Press). Steve has appeared several times on HGTV’s “Gardening by the Yard.” He is a past President of the Connecticut Hardy Plant Society and is currently Vice President of the Connecticut Horticultural Society.

Peter M. Picone
Wildlife Biologist
DEP Wildlife Division , State of Connecticut
860-675-8130 ext 305

Education: University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
Bachelor of Science Degree in Renewable Natural Resources (1985)
(Wildlife Management emphasis)

Employment:
Senior Wildlife Biologist Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Wildlife Division, Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area, Burlington, CT
Nov 1990 to Present -- provides technical assistance in enhancement of wildlife habitat; specializing in the use of native plants and managing invasive non-natives; oversees western district wildlife management areas and state land agricultural agreements; wildlife management area access management; provides technical assistance regarding habitat enhancement; invasive non-native plants management; advises on the use of native plants for habitat enhancement; urban wildlife and habitat management, publishes guides and technical literature to educate the public about habitat management and wildlife management; gives presentations using slides and other communication media; field research and surveys; deer and beaver management and nuisance control; works with other natural resource professional in related fields.

Rob Townsend

Rob Townsend is the owner of Aqua Scapes of CT LLC in Portland CT. He got his start with horticulture in the early 1980's through the Vo- Ag program and after a brief four year tour in the USMC he started his landscaping business. In 1991 Rob built his first pond and was so enthralled by the experience he began soaking up as much knowledge as he could involving eco systems.

In the mid 90's he hooked up with Aquascape Designs(the company that would"Change the way the world views Water Gardens"). This would cause Rob to totally change the focus of his business. In 1998 Rob hosted his first hands on Build a Pond Day Seminar. Since then he has had over 1000 attendees at his Hands on builds and seminars and lectures on how to succeed in water gardening. Many of these have been done at a Nursery, Garden Center or Stone Supplier near you!

In 2001 they became the states biggest Distributor in professional pond products for Aquascape Designs(now Aquascape Inc) and have never looked back. Rob has been displaying beautiful landscapes at the CT Flower Show Since the year 2000 and has been fortunate to win Best in Show in 2003 and 2009 well. This year he will lecture on Pond Ecology, Water Gardens and the new Rainwater Harvesting Seminar all in beautiful power point presentations so grab a seat and get ready to get your feet wet.

For all your Fish Aquatic, Plant and Professional pond products needs you can also visit Rob at his Aquatic Nursery at 505 William Street in Portland, CT. There you can visit the largest warehouse in the state dedicated to Professional Pond Products. His Fiancee Jen who runs Bucky's Garden(where everything grows and anything goes!) is also there. Jen has a great selection of perrenials, gnomes and unusual gifts. Our website is www.NewEnglandAquatics.com

Judy Gasparino

Judy Gasparino lives with her husband Bob on a farm in Preston. Together they have four children and six grandchildren. Judy had a love for flowers since childhood, and enrolled in the first CT Master gardener program back in 1978 and refreshed in the 1990's. She is an avid gardener and enjoys teaching classes and workshops on subjects related to gardening and flower pressing. Judy has developed a strain of pink Queen Anne's Lace and is presently marketing the seed. She recently finished writing a booklet titled "A Flower Presser's Garden," which is available a the Flower Show.